Draco collapsed face-down onto the couch across from Hermione with a groan, causing her to look up from what she had been reading. She had received Remus's and Tonks's lengthy replies a few days ago and had reread them multiple times since then in an effort to memorize them. She quickly stuffed the letters out of sight between the pages of an Astronomy textbook beside her before turning to assess Draco.
She wasn't sure what to do in this situation even with the advice from the Lupins. It had been nearly a week and a half since she and Draco had stumbled upon Ron and Lavender, causing Draco to have some type of hormonal werewolf reaction. And she had barely seen him since then. It was obvious he was avoiding her since he went straight to his room each time he returned to the common room, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. Was he embarrassed? Angry? Just hormonal? Or had things shifted back to resemble how he had treated her for the past six years?
Somehow, she didn't think it was the latter. Every time she had seen him walk through the common room, he hadn't insulted her or really spoken at all. Their rounds were done in silence besides affirming grunts from him in response to her questions or statements. Mainly, he just seemed defeated, and she had assumed this was because of the approaching full moon on top of everything else.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, her gaze roaming over what she could see of his clothes. There were sizable rips in his shirt and a long tear down the seam of one pant leg. And there were certainly patches that looked a lot like blood.
The full moon had been the previous night.
Draco turned his head barely to face her, presumably so he could breathe and talk better. "Why are you even awake right now?" he asked instead.
Hermione glanced to the window where the sun was just now hovering over the horizon. She had gotten up at dawn an hour ago to wait for Draco to come back from the Room of Requirement. After reading Remus's letter detailing his earliest memories of his painful and draining unmedicated transformations, she had wanted to ensure he was okay. "Couldn't sleep," she said. "It looks like you might have some cuts. Aren't you supposed to go see Madam Pomfrey after every full moon for healing and a muscle relaxer?"
"Perhaps." He looked at her through heavily lidded eyes and waved a hand dismissively before dropping it so his arm hung loosely over the side of the couch. The back of his hand skimmed the carpet, and Hermione's gaze darted to a long cut stretching the entire length of his forearm.
"Yeah, well, you should go see her," she said.
"Can't," he said. "It was hard enough to walk back here with no stairs. I'm not doing seven flights and back with how sore and dizzy I am."
"You can't just lie there in pain," she reasoned.
He huffed and laboriously pushed himself up into a sitting position. "See, not lying here. I'll be fine."
Hermione raised an eyebrow in challenge as she surveyed the damage Draco had done to himself while in werewolf form. His shirt was torn in two down the front so it hung open. From this, she could see exposed gouges in his chest where sharp claws had dug deep into his torso. Two deep gashes also marred his cheek. All of these wounds were clotted with dark red, almost black blood.
"You lost a lot of blood," she said. "No wonder you're dizzy." She stood and stooped to pick up her bag, which she had emptied of all books the previous night while she had surrounded herself with homework to distract herself from the thoughts of Draco off somewhere going through severe pain like Remus had described.
"Where are you going?" he asked, moving to get up himself. But he immediately clutched the arm of the couch and had to sit back down, his eyes closed as he took deep breaths.
"To get Madam Pomfrey. Lie back down and don't move," Hermione said. She walked to the portrait hole before turning back. Draco had already done as she suggested and was now stretched across the couch on his back. "Also, you need food. What do you want to eat?"
"Nothing they have down there," he answered without looking up. His eyes were still closed.
Hermione thought back to Tonks's letter and said, "Raw steak?"
There was a pause before Draco said, softly, "Yeah."
Hermione adjusted her bag on her hip and nodded. "Alright. I'll send Madam Pomfrey up and see what there might be in the kitchens."
Hermione returned to the common room nearly an hour later, her bag now carrying a large raw steak wrapped in butcher paper and a few medical supplies.
"Where's Madam Pomfrey?" Draco asked, lifting his head marginally to look at the portrait hole as she climbed through it.
"She couldn't come," Hermione said. She set her bag on the coffee table beside the couch and began to take the items out. "Some emergency with two second years that tried to joust on their broomsticks. One has some shattered leg bones and the other has splinters from the broom handle embedded in his arm and stomach."
Draco grimaced, but his expression quickly turned curious as he looked at the items she was laying out on the table. "So what's this?"
"Your steak," she said, nodding to the brown paper package. She hated asking the house elves for anything, but this had seemed most necessary. And they had been eager, although confused, to give it to her. "And a couple of things from Madam Pomfrey." She handed him a small green bottle. "She said to take that first. It's the muscle relaxer."
Draco took it from her and eased himself back up into a sitting position. He tucked one foot underneath him and let the other hang off the couch. He unstopped the vial and drank it in two gulps.
Hermione took it back from him and replaced it on the table beside the other items. She picked up a rag and another bottle, this one purple, before sitting next to him. "Madam Pomfrey told me how to put this on you, but I think you may want to do this yourself. It's Essence of Dittany, which should heal all your cuts pretty well."
Draco nodded and reached for the bottle. But, as soon as she released it into his hand, it slipped from between his fingers to land between them in the crease of the couch.
Hermione picked up the bottle while Draco tried and failed to make a fist. "So, that muscle relaxer is strong, I'm guessing," he said, quite plainly stating the obvious since his hands hands were now shaky slightly.
"I guess that's why she told me to put this on you," Hermione said. She fiddled with the stopper on the bottle, trying to stall so he would realize what that meant and say no. But, he didn't, and meanwhile, all she could think of what that time back in fourth year where had offered her a Potter Stinks badge and told her not to touch his hand and get Mudblood grime all over him.
She peered up at him cautiously as she tipped some of the contents of the bottle onto the rag to wet it.
"What?" he asked.
"Well, I just...I thought you might have objections to me touching you."
His cheeks colored faintly, but he held her gaze. "I'm honestly too weak and tired to care." His gaze lowered to her hands where she was adding more Dittany to the cloth. "Not sure I'd care anyways," he mumbled.
Hermione cleared her throat as she set the open bottle of Dittany on the coffee table. She would pretend she hadn't heard that. She had enough problems without trying to figure out what this tired, possibly delirious Draco meant by those words.
Purposely avoiding his gaze, she pressed the wet cloth to one of the gashes that stretched across his ribs. When he hissed out a breath, her eyes darted to his. He was staring at her, and as she watched, his pupils grew wider. Remus hadn't said anything about what that meant.
"So, uh," she said, tearing her eyes away and focusing back on pressing and holding the rag to each section of the wound. She was supposed to hold the rag to the wound and let it soak up some of the Dittany to heal. It was already working. The first spot she had touched now had a stiff scab over it and looked much less inflamed around the edges. "Did the Room of Requirement work out okay? Who was on duty outside?"
"It was fine," he answered in a low voice, and she struggled to keep her eyes on his chest and where her hands were moving. She was especially aware that she was reaching the wounds that dipped near to his belt buckle. "Snape and Flitwick were watching the door."
She nodded and wet the rag with more of the Dittany. She swallowed and pressed the rag to his abdomen just below his navel. Instantly, his hand was around her wrist, clutching it loosely, though she was sure it would have been a vice grip had the muscle relaxer not been in effect at that moment. "Stop."
"Why?" she asked, looking up, though she was sure she knew the answer to her own question. Touching him there was too much, too personal. But, those wounds were deep, and he did need the healing ointment, so she had to muster through the awkward feelings, and, surely, he knew he had to as well to feel better.
"I don't want to test my self-control," Draco answered. He swallowed and shook his head at her inquisitive look. He released her wrist and clutched his hands together in his lap. "Just do my face. Please."
Hermione did as he asked and left the remainder of his torso wounds alone. Instead, she pressed the rag to one of the tears in his cheek. Within moments, it began to scab over, and she moved to the other gash. This one was closer to his eye, a gouge directly on top of his cheek bone.
"Do you feel better now with the potion and Dittany?" she asked, mainly in an effect to fill the silence. His eyes were focused on her face again, staring at her as if he was trying to memorize everything about her. It was unnerving.
"Yes. Thank you," he said. "Sorry if this made you uncomfortable."
Hermione shook her head. "No, it was fine," she lied as she replaced the stopper in the bottle. She stood and turned to her room. "I just remembered I have a huge essay due tomorrow. Enjoy your steak."
She shut the door of her room behind her quickly and leaned back against it, her breathing tight in her chest. She wasn't sure what had just happened out there with Draco exactly or if she had just been reading into it way too much, but it had felt so odd, like she had been naked in front of him or something. It didn't help that all she could suddenly think about was how she had never noticed how gorgeously gray his eyes were.
Hey guys, I know it's been a little while since you've heard from me. My life has just been in a hectic toss-up recently, and I'm not sure whether things are falling into place, apart, or a little bit of both. Anyways, I just randomly felt like writing a new chapter to escape reality today, so I hope you enjoyed it.
